Decent work is employment that "respects the fundamental rights of the human person as well as the rights of workers in terms of conditions of work safety and remuneration. ... respect for the physical and mental integrity of the worker in the exercise of his/her employment."
Decent work is applied to both the formal and informal sector. It must address all kind of jobs, people and families. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), decent work involves opportunities for work that are productive and deliver a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.
The ILO is developing an agenda for the community of work, represented by its tripartite constituents, to mobilize their considerable resources to create those opportunities and to help reduce and eradicate poverty. The ILO Decent Work Agenda is the balanced and integrated programmatic approach to pursue the objectives of full and productive employment and decent work for all at global, regional, national, sectoral and local levels. It has four pillars: standards and rights at work, employment creation and enterprise development, social protection and social dialogue.
Elements
The elements of decent work are:
Job Creation - no one should be barred from their desired work due to lack of employment opportunities Rights at Work, including minimum wage - Workers rights include the right to just and favourable conditions, days off, 8-hour days, non-discrimination and living wages for them and their families, amongst others Social Protection - all workers should have safe working conditions, adequate free time and rest, access to benefits like healthcare, pension, and parental leave, among many others Social Dialogue - workers should be able to exercise workplace democracy through their unions and negotiate their workplace conditions as well as national and international labour and development policies
Sustainable development and decent work targets
The Sustainable Development Goals also proclaims decent work for sustainable economic growth. The Goal aims to increase labor productivity, reduce the unemployment rate, and improve access to financial services and benefits. Encouraging entrepreneurship and job creation are key to this, as are effective measures to eradicate forced labour, slavery and human trafficking. With these targets in mind, the goal is to achieve full and productive employment, and decent work, for all women and men by 2030. The ILO Decent Work Agenda's areas of concern has been mentioned in other development targets such as in reducing poverty and increasing access to education. The UN believes that the ILO Decent Work Agenda plays an active role in achieving sustainable development.
Challenges in implementation
Although few disagree with the Decent Work Agenda in principle, actually achieving decent work poses challenges and controversies. In Africa, for example, informal employment is the norm, while well-paying jobs that offer social-protection benefits are the exception. This has been attributed to difficulties in obtaining formal sector jobs due to the creasing pressure of globalization. But there do exist debates on whether reducing the size of the informal economy would bring about social welfare.
In 2006, the ILO highlighted the range and breadth of "decent work deficits", including "unemployment and underemployment, poor quality and unproductive jobs, unsafe work and insecure income, rights that are denied and gender inequality" and drawing these deficits to the attention of states attending a meeting of the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
In order to achieve the Decent Work Agenda, national and international entities must commit to the objective of the creation of quality jobs and tackle its challenges. However, an obstacle is that it is difficult to convince the citizens of a country that aiding development and job creation abroad is also beneficial domestically. To remain competitive in the world economy, governments are tempted to close markets and lower labor standards which is believed to cause depressing wages and working conditions.
Various actors can affect the provision of decent work, although existing conditions and incentives do not always lend themselves to advancing the Decent Work Agenda. To illustrate: